Governance reforms and the dynamics of accountability in public services?

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Lakoma, K. ORCID: 0000-0002-2583-3813, Eckersley, P. ORCID: 0000-0001-9048-8529 and Murphy, P. ORCID: 0000-0001-8459-4448, 2024. Governance reforms and the dynamics of accountability in public services? In: United Kingdom Association for Public Administration (UKAPA) Inaugural Conference 2024, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, 12-13 September 2024.

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Abstract

Reforms to the governance of public services have invariably promised improved accountability. Although the idea of accountability has become increasingly popular in both policy and academic literature, it has been interpreted in different ways. Drawing on the prominent work of Romzek and Dubnick (1987) and Romzek (2000), we develop a new conceptualisation of how different accountabilities interrelate in public services. We argue that governance reforms tend to focus on certain types of accountability (specifically bureaucratic, political, legal, or professional), while often de-emphasising or accentuating others. The conceptualisation extends previous studies by helping us to understand how and why accountability in public services may change as a result of governance reforms and why governments might seek to introduce these reforms in the first place. It argues that governments either extend or reduce control over public services, and/or increase or decrease the service’s autonomy, generally in response to perceived accountability deficits following sudden shocks. When introducing governance reforms, governments invariably focus on specific type(s) of accountability, which ultimately changes the balance of different types of accountabilities within an organisation and the way in which an organisation is held to account by stakeholders.

Item Type:

Conference contribution

Creators:

Lakoma, K., Eckersley, P. and Murphy, P.

Date:

6 September 2024

Identifiers: